


Male Leads in a Medical Drama

by bluemoonrabbit



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: (sort of), Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Showki if you squint, Undergrad chem lab setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 21:15:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17609123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluemoonrabbit/pseuds/bluemoonrabbit
Summary: What they say: “When it rains, it pours.”What they also say: “Every cloud has a silver lining.”In which the hot barista keeps getting Changkyun’s name wrong, but Changkyun’s too sleep-deprived, awkward, and charmed to correct him (in that exact sequence).





	Male Leads in a Medical Drama

**Author's Note:**

  * For [averyblue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/averyblue/gifts).



> For my Wonkyun Hero who inspired me to start writing: a silly little fic inspired by [these tweets](https://twitter.com/bluem00nrabbit/status/1088674589545095168).

If you asked Changkyun, he’d probably tell you that nothing he’d ever done in his life was bad enough to deserve the punishment he was enduring.

Admittedly, he’d done _some_ bad things before in his life. Like Exhibit A: as a child, he’d habitually stolen Lindor chocolates from the bulk aisle every time he’d gone to the supermarket with his mom. Or Exhibit B: for weeks after first moving out, he’d thrown his food waste into the trash, not knowing they had a community compost. Or even Exhibit C: last week he’d promised Jooheon he’d bring an extra scientific calculator for him for their ochem quiz but forgot, leaving his best friend and roommate to have to beg the TA to lend him one.

But surely — surely! — none of that was bad enough to merit having his building struck by a power outage that lasted all night and into the morning, leaving him no electricity to charge his phone or power his espresso machine.

So here he was, already exhausted, standing almost back-to-chest with other caffeine-seeking students in his campus Starbucks, waiting to fork over his hard-earned money for his morning fix in a single-use paper cup. As the line inched forward, he stared blankly forward and silently sent an apology to his wallet and to the environment.

Then he gave himself a mental shake. 

So what if the universe decided his past crimes were punishable with a fridge full of spoiled food and an impending caffeine-withdrawal headache? It wasn’t even 9 A.M. yet; he couldn’t let one bad incident ruin his entire day. He had a day full of lectures and a lab ahead of him, after all—

Wait. A lab? Oh God, he had an ochem lab. With the borderline-sadistic prof. What fresh hell had he cooked up for today? What—

“— can I get for you?”

Changkyun blinked. In his sleep-deprived reverie, he hadn’t noticed that he’d made it to the front of the line. He looked up and found himself face-to-face with an apron-clad man so intimidatingly beautiful it almost hurt to look at him. Is this what Michelangelo's David would look like if he was a Korean university student working part-time in a Starbucks?

The gorgeous barista tilted his head to the side. His customer service smile had not slipped a millimetre. Changkyun realized it was his turn to speak.

“Huh?” he finally croaked, voice cracking from disuse. Inwardly he cringed. At least he’d probably never see the guy ever again.

“What can I get for you?” the barista repeated, still smiling patiently.

“Oh,” said Changkyun. How was the man’s face so symmetrical? “Can I get a uhhh—” he squinted at the menu “— grande Americano, extra hot, no room, please? Oh, with two extra shots. Please.”

The barista’s beautiful smile dropped and his brow creased. “Are you sure?” he asked. There was not a hint of judgement in his voice, only concern. “That’s five shots.”

Honestly? Five shots of espresso sounded like godly ambrosia, even though it was probably going to be over-extracted, burnt beyond recognition, and leaving Changkyun needing to pee every half-hour.

“I am so sure,” Changkyun replied with conviction. He drew his card from his phone case, as though showing that yes, he was definitely prepared to pay for five shots of overpriced bean juice topped with scalding water.

The barista hesitated.

“Please, I need this, I _deserve_ this,” Changkyun begged. Screw it. Who needed dignity anyways? “My power went out last night and it’s still not back. You don’t know what I had to go through this morning.”

“You’re right, I don’t,” the barista said reluctantly. His beautiful face was marred by a worried frown as he rang him up. “Can I get your name for that?”

“Yeah, it’s Changkyun.”

The barista directed him to the side, so he shuffled away to wait for his drink. He zoned out a little bit, allowing the sounds of chatter and the warm, bitter aroma of coffee to settle into him and soothe his frazzled senses. For the first time that day, he felt like he had permission to think about things aside from school and the money he’d have to spend replacing his groceries.

He wanted to cry. Only a little bit. In this cold, lonely world, there still lived angels like Michelangelo's Korean Starbucks David who cared about the welfare of complete, undeserving strangers. He probably encountered hundreds of students ordering questionable drinks per day, but still had the heart to try to save Changkyun from himself.

“Grande Americano for Jjangkyun!” one of the other baristas called out a few moments later.

‘Hah,’ Changkyun thought with a little snort. ‘Who names their kid Jjangkyun?’

“Extra hot grande Americano, five shots, no room, for Jjangkyun!”

 _Oh_. Changkyun peeked at the cup. True to the Starbucks brand, the handsome barista had written his name wrong. He quickly snatched up his drink and called out a “thank you” in the direction of the bar. As he left, Starbucks David caught his eye and happily waved him goodbye.

—

The rest of Changkyun’s morning passed just how he liked it — without incident. Over the course of his 9 A.M. calculus lecture, he slowly sipped his (mislabelled) Americano. It warmed him from inside, making him feel a little more human again. At 10 A.M., his mind felt sharper, and he sat through all of genetics without feeling his eyelids droop at all. At 11, he found a nice, secluded study area where he leisurely ate his lunch while charging his phone and reviewing his pre-lab for organic chemistry.

When he arrived at his ochem lab, the air was abuzz with excitement. The other students, male and female alike, were whispering to each other and standing on tiptoes to sneak glances at something at the other the end of the room. Changkyun made a beeline for his friends.

“Why’s everyone so excited?” he asked, stashing his backpack into his cupboard and shaking his lab coat out. He slipped it on and tucked his calculator and pen into the breast pocket.

“There’s a new student in class,” Minhyuk replied, eyes gleaming. “What else could it be?”

“Clearly we’re still in elementary school and have nothing better to talk about except the _new student_ ,” groaned Kihyun, rolling his eyes. 

“Ki, you’re just too short to see past the shelves. This guy is _hot_.”

Changkyun craned his neck to peek at the allegedly hot new student, but his view too was obscured by the racks that topped their lab benches.

Jooheon rushed in and set his lab manual down next Minhyuk’s. “Changkyun, we’re going to have to go grocery shopping later” he said, eyes wide and frantic. “All the food’s probably gone bad.”

“Yeah, I—” Changkyun began, but was interrupted by a sudden increase in excited murmuring as Chae Hyungwon leisurely strolled in, flicking his effortlessly styled hair.

“I heard through the grapevine that the new guy is friends with Hyungwon and Hyunwoo,” Minhyuk commented. “Apparently he transferred from a community college.”

Surely enough, a bespectacled Son Hyunwoo emerged from between the lab benches to wave Hyungwon over, followed by someone with a familiar build. Changkyun felt his face heat up when he recognized the gorgeous barista who sold him his amped-up Americano that morning. God, what had he said to the man when he was still half asleep? Also — Michelangelo's Korean Starbucks David? What was he thinking? He ducked out of sight, hoping he wouldn’t be recognized.

“Funny you should mention Son Hyunwoo,” said Kihyun with a satisfied smirk. He picked a speck of lint off his lab coat and pushed up his glasses. “I beat him by half a point in our biomechanics quiz last week.”

“… Hyung,” Jooheon sighed disappointedly. “I think this rivalry is all in your head.”

“Yeah, hyung.” Changkyun tore his eyes away from the three men and turned towards his friends. “Hyunwoo-hyung probably really respects you.”

“Kihyun has a huge intellectual crush on Hyunwoo,” said Minhyuk. “And maybe an actual crush.”

Kihyun coloured. “Hey!—”

“I don’t blame you, okay? He’s smart _and_ hot.” Minhyuk sighed. “Just look at how they fill out their lab coats. They look like male leads in a medical drama while we look like kids playing dress-up.”

In front of the whiteboard, Dr. Kim clapped his hands and called the class to attention.

“Okay, class, gather ‘round,” he grunted. “Today we’re synthesizing triphenylmethanol through the Grignard reaction. But of course, we first need to generate the Grignard reagent by…”

Changkyun tuned out his words, focusing instead on the diagrams their professor was drawing. He had already reviewed the lab procedure and reaction meticulously, but still marvelled at the intricate geometric figures and arrows Dr. Kim sketched across the board.

A movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was the new student crossing his arms and leaning on a counter. Around him, others were jotting down notes into their lab manuals, but he was motionless, his face was a serene mask of deep concentration. The contrast to the friendly demeanor he had projected from behind the café till was disorienting.

“Now, today,” Dr. Kim continued, “I want you to share a bench and fume hood with someone you’ve never worked with before. You’ll never learn anything new if you’re always around the same people. Off you go, now!” 

Changkyun groaned. Even though each lab was supposed to be completed alone, he _liked_ working near Kihyun, Minhyuk, and Jooheon. Rather than wasting time socializing, they looked out for each other’s mistakes and gave each other helpful tips. As a result, they often finished their work early and got to leave together.

He had been looking forward to getting back to the apartment with Jooheon to assess the damage in the fridge. Reluctantly he waved goodbye to him and Minhyuk.

“I’ll miss you guys,” he fake-sniffed to Jooheon.

“I’ll miss you too,” replied Jooheon, pretending to wipe away a tear.

“Please,” Kihyun begged Jooheon. “Don’t let the prof catch Minhyuk sniffing ether.”

“That was one time! Look, Hyunwoo and the new guy are coming over.” Minhyuk looked Kihyun earnestly in the eye. “I’ll buy you coffee for a week if you work with Hyunwoo. He’s a really great guy.”

With that, Minhyuk merrily dragged Jooheon away with him, leaving Changkyun and Kihyun alone with Hyunwoo and the new student steadily approaching. 

“Hi Kihyun, can I share your bench?” Hyunwoo asked. He was already wearing his safety goggles over his glasses. Beside Changkyun, Kihyun nodded stiffly.

“Would you like to share my bench, then?” Changkyun asked, forcing himself to look at the new student. It would be rude not to. Maybe he wouldn’t remember him.

“Sure! I’m Hoseok,” said the new student. “I finally got off the waitlist for this lab section so I wasn’t here for the first lab.”

Seeming to have finally found his voice, Kihyun said, “I’m Kihyun, and this is—”

“Jjangkyun!” Hoseok said, smiling.

_Ah, fuck._

“You came into Starbucks this morning and ordered that monster Americano!”

_Noooo._

Kihyun’s expression of absolute bewilderment would’ve been hilarious if it wasn’t directed at Changkyun. ‘Jjangkyun?’ he mouthed. 

“Yeah, ahaha…” Changkyun said awkwardly, scratching behind his ear. He stoically ignored Kihyun’s stare. “I couldn’t make it at home this morning so I had to buy one… Be right back, gotta get some gloves.”

He quickly made his escape to the counter where the latex gloves were stored. Kihyun followed, looking eager to get away from his proclaimed-rival-turned-benchmate.

“Why didn’t you say you already know him?” Kihyun asked. Together they scanned the row of paper boxes to find their size.

“Know who?” Changkyun plucked out two pairs, passing one pair to Kihyun.

“The new student?” Kihyun said. “Son Hyunwoo’s friend?”

“I don’t know him though,” Changkyun replied with a pout. “What gave you that impression?”

“He literally called you ‘Jjangkyun!’ That’s a nickname!”

“He called me Jjangkyun because I went into Starbucks this morning and he was the barista,” Changkyun whined, “and that’s what Starbucks baristas do; they get people’s names wrong!”

“Why didn’t you correct him, then?”

“I panicked and lost my chance when we introduced ourselves, okay? How am I supposed to bring it up now?”

Kihyun gave him a Look.

“I already know I’m awkward so stop attacking me, hyung. We’ve already wasted five minutes.”

That got Kihyun moving.

There was rarely any time to chat during the first fifteen minutes or so of each lab. Timing was everything: the quicker one got their apparatus and reaction set up, the more time one had to troubleshoot if problems arose. The students, clad in their white lab coats, wove between each other and around benches in a frantic dance choreographed to the ticking hands of the clock and murmurs of “excuse me” and “could you please.”

Changkyun was thankful for this stretch of time because it meant he didn’t have to talk to Hoseok. It was mortifying enough that the man’s first impression of him was that he was a hot mess express that needed caffeine more than dignity. It was even more awkward that he literally thought Changkyun’s name was Jjangkyun, even though Changkyun had never heard a more ridiculous and improbable name before. As he waited in line to fetch his reagents, he surreptitiously peeked at his new benchmate.

During the time Changkyun and Kihyun had spent fetching their gloves, Hoseok had already retrieved his starting materials. Now, he was setting up his apparatus inside their shared fume hood with practiced ease: first, the ring-stand equipped with clamps that would hold up the glass apparatus; then the hot-plate and water bath at the base of the ring-stand; and lastly the glass apparatus itself, a fragile, spindly system of parts that would cradle the reaction mixture and prevent it from evaporating away into the air. His elegant, precise motions and upright posture exuded a quiet confidence and dedication that Changkyun had admired in all of his favourite professors.

Suddenly, the subject of his observations looked up. To Changkyun’s horror, Hoseok looked him straight in the eye. He flushed and quickly looked away, wishing the day would just end.

When Changkyun returned to his station beside Hoseok’s, they worked in silence, only talking when it was absolutely necessary. It was painfully awkward. The entire encounter in Starbucks, which Changkyun had forgotten over the course of the morning, re-emerged to the forefront his mind to play on loop in all its embarrassing glory.

Changkyun sighed, and focused his attention back to his reaction. Nothing was happening inside his reaction vessel. He peeked at Hoseok’s which was already refluxing steadily. Huffing in frustration, he ducked down to check that the magnetic stir-bar was spinning as it ought to in the bottom of his own flask.

“Jjangkyun.”

Changkyun jumped. Hoseok was peering over his shoulder at his set-up.

“You might want to try scratching the bits of magnesium with a glass rod.”

Changkyun must’ve looked confused, for Hoseok elaborated. “There might be a layer of oxidation on the magnesium that’s preventing it from reacting.”

“Oh, okay.” Changkyun unscrewed the flask from the apparatus and did as Hoseok suggested. A few seconds after he returned the flask to position, it started reacting vigorously.

“Thank you,” Changkyun said timidly.

Hoseok smiled back, and they returned to observing their reactions in silence.

—

 _“This is the second time, Park!”_ Dr. Kim’s voice thundered from across the lab twenty minutes later. _“If I see your water tubes touching your hot plate one more time I’m dropping you from the course.”_

As the prof stormed past, Hoseok sidled closer. For some reason, he was hovering beside Changkyun even though he’d already done this step, and was ready to proceed to the next part of the experiment.

“Hey, Jjangkyun,” he muttered.

Changkyun grimaced at the awful name, but continued at his task at hand. Carefully, he weighed out a gram of benzophenone onto a sheet of waxed paper on their analytical scale.

“Is Dr. Kim always this intense?”

“Yeah, but with good reason.” Satisfied with the amount, Changkyun tipped the white powder into a vial and topped it with a solvent, capping it and giving it a good shake. “He yells at us because he doesn’t want us to get hurt.”

Hoseok gave a surprisingly adorable shudder. “Ochem labs are scary places when people fool around.”

“You sound like you’ve seen some shit,” Changkyun said speculatively. They returned to the fume hood to load the solution into syringes. 

“You bet. Just last term, the guy sharing a bench with me dumped all his toluene into his flask…” Hoseok paused dramatically, _“_ _in open air, outside of the fume hood.”_

Changkyun’s jaw dropped. “Isn’t toluene a carcinogen?”

“There’s insufficient evidence to say so,” said Hoseok. “But it’s still crazy toxic. I feared for my life that day.”

Changkyun nodded slowly. “I’ve seen some dumb things, like Minhyukkie-hyung sniffing diethyl ether straight from the tube, but nothing that bad.”

“He did that?” Hoseok laughed. His eyes crinkled. “How high was he afterwards?”

“He was fine, actually. Luckily Kihyunnie-hyung was there to stop him before he took another sniff.” 

Hoseok chuckled softly and began adding the solution to the reaction mixture in his flask, drop by drop. Changkyun followed suit.

“Jjangkyun, look!” Hoseok suddenly whispered.

Inside Hoseok’s flask, the brown, sludge-like mixture was beginning to change colour. They watched in awe as it morphed into a vibrant pink. Beside Hoseok's set-up, Changkyun’s reaction began to turn pink too, swirling with the motion caused by the spinning stir bar.

“Wow,” Changkyun breathed. “I’ve never seen colours like this in organic chemistry. It’s so pretty.”

“I wonder if it’s the magnesium in the mixture,” Hoseok said contemplatively. “Metallic ions always have surprising colours.”

Changkyun nodded slowly, imagining a dance of molecules and electrons flitting about in his round-bottom flask like glitter in a snow globe. Somehow — by the awe in his voice or the curiosity in his eyes — he knew that Hoseok was envisioning something similar, too.

“Or maybe the electron delocalization,” Changkyun finally offered. Inside the flasks, the bright pink colour slowly faded to an opaque white.

“That could definitely shift the light absorption,” Hoseok agreed. He grinned at Changkyun; a bright, luminous smile that rendered all the ones he’d had received that day bland in comparison. Despite his earlier reservations, Changkyun found himself smiling back.

—

Near the end of the lab, Changkyun thoroughly rinsed all his glassware with acetone and water, and wiped down the top of the bench. He enjoyed labs a lot, but usually time passed either too quickly, leaving him stressed, or too slowly, leaving him utterly bored. Today, however, was an exception.

He felt he’d judged Hoseok wrongly. Perhaps it was because the older man had seen him at his worst and messiest: stressed, half-asleep, and pre-coffee. Or perhaps because he’d reappeared in front of Changkyun, looking cool, handsome, and unapproachable, when Changkyun had least expected it. However, whatever had held Changkyun back from interacting naturally with Hoseok was no more substantial than the vapours of ether that had condensed on the glassware he was cleaning.

As it turned out, Hoseok was extremely comfortable to talk to. As they worked, they shared anecdotes from labs they’d enjoyed and labs they’d hated. Hoseok told stories that left Changkyun doubling over in stitches, and listened to Changkyun’s attentively. Changkyun had never seen anyone so reactive before — Hoseok nodded sympathetically, giggled adorably, and pulled dramatic faces at all the right times.

(And if Hoseok kept calling Changkyun “Jjangkyun,” he didn’t really mind anymore. It was kind of cute.)

Students were beginning to filter out, eagerly chatting about their weekend plans or bemoaning their workload. Outside the panoramic window that wrapped around the south and west sides of the room, the sun was beginning to set, painting the sky and the snow atop the distant mountains a dreamlike pink. Changkyun could see the rising moon, a ghostly pale crescent in the dimming light.

“Hey Jjangkyun…” Hoseok began.

Changkyun turned around to face him. Hoseok’s expression was endearingly hesitant, only made cuter by the indents left on his forehead and cheeks by his safety goggles.

“I remember you mentioned this morning that your power went out last night…”

Changkyun nodded, surprised that Hoseok remembered such a trivial thing. Even he’d almost forgotten the power outage happened.

“And all your food is probably spoiled right?” Hoseok fidgetted with the straps on his backpack. “So I was thinking you’re probably going to eat out or order in tonight since you have no groceries…”

 _Oh_. He was rambling. _Cute_.

“And I was wondering if you want to get dinner together? With me?” Hoseok finished, peering hopefully at Changkyun.

Changkyun smiled. “Sure, but on one condition.”

Hoseok’s face lit up.

“That you get my name right.”

“What?” Hoseok’s hopeful expression dropped. “Your name’s not Jjangkyun?”

“No, it’s _Chang_ -kyun,” he laughed. “Who names their kid Jjangkyun?”

“I can’t believe you let me call you that for four straight hours!” Hoseok whined, now full-on pouting. Changkyun had never seen a full-grown man of his size pout like that before, and the effect was utterly charming.

“I thought it was cute,” Changkyun admitted. “Besides, I probably said some really embarrassing things this morning at Starbucks.”

“That you did,” Hoseok said, fighting a smile. “Something about my face being symmetrical—”

“Noooo, stop!” Changkyun laughed, hiding his face in his hands. “I can’t believe I said that out loud.”

“Well, _Changkyun_ , shall we wait for the others or no?”

They glanced over at their friends. Hyungwon, Minhyuk, and Jooheon were still cleaning their glassware and storing it away. Minhyuk was conspicuously wiggling his eyebrows at Changkyun and pointing at the door. Hyunwoo and Kihyun were hunched over a piece of scrap paper, pens flying over its surface, animatedly discussing what looked like a reaction mechanism. As Hyunwoo gestured with his hands how the reaction would unfold, Kihyun nodded fervently, eyes glowing with excitement.

“I think they can handle themselves,” said Changkyun. “Besides, I kind of want to get out of here.”

Hoseok smiled at Changkyun. “It’s a date, then.

 

**Author's Note:**

> \- They have to wear safety goggles over their glasses because it’s unsafe to wear contact lenses in the lab.  
> \- They’re synthesizing triphenylmethanol using what’s called the Grignard reaction. During the synthesis, the reaction produces an intermediate that’s a bright, shocking pink. Chemistry is beautiful, guys.  
> \- A fume hood in a lab is quite like the one in a kitchen, except it’s more like a giant metal box with a glass door on the front. It contains and siphons away harmful fumes from a reaction. Is this A/N getting too detailed?
> 
> \- Averyblue is writing the most beautiful wonkyun fic right now. Please give [the theory of first loves](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13130928/chapters/30037959) some love!  
> \- I'm [bluem00nrabbit](https://twitter.com/bluem00nrabbit) on twitter. Averyblue is [tsunwrites](https://twitter.com/tsunwrites). Let's be friends on the bird app!


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